'Chung Bai' kiwi hardiness ?

twroszFebruary 10, 2014

A nursery is offering this kiwi as being hardy on the Canadian prairie zone 3. I'm unable to find any real information on this selection said to have 2 inch fruits. Some of the kolomikta types can be successfully grown in zone 3 without winter protection, though isn't 'Chung Bai' of the more tender arguta kind?

Raintree Nursery has them and provides this information, "This seedling of cultivar 'Qui' Qui was selected near the border of North Korea from the wild near Chang Bai Mountain Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agriculture. We offer Chang Bai because it is very productive and flavorful.and the green fruit has a unique almost heart shape. Its from a cold mountainous region and should be as winter hardy as other hardy kiwis. Needs male arguta for pollination."
I have seen indications that it is hardy to zone 4 at least. So it is hardy to at least -30 degrees.

It is my understanding that you need a male arguta kiwi to polinate the chung bai kiwi. If so and if you do not have one, I would like to offer you a trade of softwood cuttings of a male arguta kiwi for softwood cuttings of a female chung bai. Since hardwood cuttings are hard to root, I will take softwood (this year) cuttings in May or June and root them. If you do the same with your chung bai we can make a trade. I have two anna kiwi females and one arguta kiwi male. I have room for one more vine. My kiwis are to the left of this raised garden.

Plenty of kiwis that edible landscaping sell are zone 4-5 hardy. I grew them here with no problems until the drought hit. Kiwi take a lot of water and even watering them twice a day I could not keep them damp enough. We had cracks 4 feet deep in the ground at the time. Anyway what I was getting at is they went through -20 with no problem but the lack of water killed them almost 2 years into a long drought. I'm not sure about that variety but I do know the cold hardy varieties are very cold hardy. I may grow them again close to the pond where it stays wet during the drought.

No wonder I couldn't find any much information on this kiwi, as it's 'Chang Bia' not 'Chung Bia' as shown listed in my catalogue. The minimum winter temperature here is from -30 to -40 F and I'm sure the vine would sustain severe winter damage or perish altogether unless laid down to the ground and covered over with snow, as I do for some of my grapes. I still might try it as such, though I'll first enquire of the nursery to hear of their claims of its hardiness.

Charlie, your place is very nice and your kiwis are thriving upon your fence. I enjoyed reading your profile information and see that we grow many of the same types of fruit, though of course I'm more limited due to climate. Very nice of you to offer the trade and I'd definitely take you up on it if I could, though unfortunately we'd be unable to pass plant material across the Canadian/American border.

ClarkinKS, thank you for your information. Friends of mine have a large kolomikta type that that has thrived in zone 3 and rather surprising the visitors to their yard, myself included! Though, never have I come across an arguta that has been anything other than stunted or dead due to winter injury. A few nurseries here still offer them, though as being tender and requiring protection. If I attempt any kiwis, I'll be sure to note to keep them well watered.

I have Chang Bai which I bought from Burnt Ridge last year. It grew well last summer, and I thought it was doing fine this winter. However, on the lower portion of the vine it had developed what looked like bacterial canker that you'd see on a tree. This must have severely weakened its cold hardiness. We have had severe cold this year, at least -3 (which is very cold for us) on three separate occasions. The weakened area died, which, of course, will cause everything above it to die. Luckily, it had developed another long shoot just below this weak area, that appears to be healthy. I'm hoping it will survive and develop into the new main vine. We'll see...

Charlie, I'd be more than happy to send you some soft wood cuttings, but I'm not sure I'll have enough growth to do so - assuming the vine survives.